SnowGlobe rolls a dance music festival, ski/snowboard adventure and New Year’s Eve celebration into one. For the tunes, SnowGlobe brings in 50-plus artists for a mostly electronic party. Big-name DJs, on-the-brink buzz bands and underground rappers take the stage in genres spanning avant-garde electropop, post-dubstep, booty house, hip-hop and whatever lies in between. For the adventure sports, SnowGlobe not only sets up a ski/snowboard ramp beside the Main Stage where pro athletes show off tricks, it also arranges reduced-price lift tickets for fest-goers to Heavenly Mountain. One of the region’s top resorts, Heavenly rises at the town’s edge and unfurls 4800 acres of powdery terrain. So SnowGlobers hit the slopes by day and groove by night.
Meanwhile between sets, pro skiers and snowboarders start dropping down the huge ramp next to the Main Stage. Look up and you’ll see them flying through the air, sticking wildcats, tamedogs, 360s and 720s. It’s like a mini X Games.
Graffiti artists and painters create works onsite, sometimes as live accompaniment to the music. Food trucks provide sustenance, cooking up comfort such as pulled pork grilled cheese sandwiches and the “tornado potato” (a garlicky, spiral-cut spud on a stick). Beer, coffee and cocoa wash it all down.